winter park wedding

We spent most of the weekend traveling in the car, but on Saturday afternoon we were able to enjoy a beautiful wedding in Winter Park, Fla. David's college roommate Robbie and his bride Anna celebrated their nuptials at historic Casa Feliz. It was a sweet ceremony but outside at 1:00pm in August...in Florida...which really just means it was HOT. Thankfully, Hurricane Irene chose not to strike Central Florida.

David was one of Robbie's groomsmen and I thought the bride and groom's style with the bridesmaids and groomsmen looked just lovely against the rustic Spanish facade. And they just so happen to be honeymooning in Spain!

I love when David gets together with his college buddies. They are quite entertaining but what I love to see most is how such good friends they are to one another. Plus, they are a lot of fun! And I've enjoyed getting to know their significant others who are just as nice and fun.

Luckily, en route to Winter Park, we drive through both Tallahassee and Ocala! So we got to see both sets of parents and sister and her family - which was really the best part of the whole weekend.

Cheers to the bride and groom~

casa feliz

mr. and mrs. mccormick

anna's dress was stunning...and I loved her fascinator!

delicious cake

david wore his oyster cufflinks I gave him for our wedding :)


robbie's adorable nephews, brooks and braden, that were in the wedding

julianne was there too!!

she and anna were sorority sisters at uf and julianne was a bridesmaid

david found a hat...

can you tell they are siblings?!

bon voyage!

sisters weekend

David left me our first weekend in Birmingham for a Bachelor party in Charleston - how rude! But, I called in the sisters and they came to keep me company and to celebrate Holly sister's 30th birthday! Heather Lane, Sister and Sally Kate came on Friday for a wondeful weekend together. I love those girls so much and miss them all terribly. The good news is that I now only live 3.5 hours away from Heather...the closest we've lived since high school...just shy of ten years. This means road trips to Memphis are in my near future!!

We had the best weekend celebrating the birthday girl and each morning Sally Kate would wake up and say in the sweetest voice "Happy Birthday Mommy". I took them to some of my new favorite eats, sweets and shops.

the birthday spread

there just happens to be a delicious cupcake shop very near our apartment

when sister and sk arrived at supper time on friday, we walked over to saw's bbq. after our tour de bbq, david and I have decided this is the best in birmingham!

heather lane arrived late friday night. but not too late for cupcakes and prosecco...

sally kate was excited to be up late with the girls!

dreamcakes has flavors such as strawberry banana, almond joy {lane g. you can get one of these when you come visit :)}, and maple bacon - which is a fall flavor that david is dying to try

in the mornings we lounged around eating blueberry lemon bread from chez lulu and sipping coffee

sweet angel likes to entertain herself by cutting up paper with her safety scissors...in my slippers :)

saturday night we took sister to nabeel's for her birthday dinner. this is a to die for baked feta with greek seasoning and olive oil. yum.

Heather Lane, Sister and Sally Kate, thank you for traveling all the way here to spend time with me in my new home!! It was just what I needed. We've been having wedding withdrawals (aka spending time together), all of two months, so this was just fitting. We also surprised sister with a 30th birthday trip to New Orleans in January and we're so excited! Heather and I did a quasi surprise performance to debut the gift but it had nothing on my Rehearsal Dinner toast performance by my sister and brother! Counting down the days until next time...

let the good times roll

Here is the whirlwind that was July and August!! We said farewell to Tallahassee on August 6th and made our way to Birmingham. In the weeks leading up to that we had many celebrations - birthdays and goodbyes!

we headed down to the st. mark's river with friends to enjoy seafood and a night at the beach. they brought us this delicious italian cream cake from cake shop!

sweet sarah - baby girl is due in october and I was so sad that I had to miss her babyshower on august 6th as we were en route to our new home

a few girls nights out were had

and a yummy italian meal by the micas with the edenfields and the meadows

the family recipe in david's great-great grandmothers pasta bowl...speaking of which, I hear ours has arrived in tallahassee from the honeymoon.

the boys took their kids on a walk around the neighborhood - so precious.

mr. mica and his favorite critters

best friends - we miss you so much sally kate!!

one of our girls nights out was a shopping event at divas and devils, our local vintage boutique, followed by a surprise dinner for moi at masa

I miss you all too!

cheers to wonderful tallahassee friends!

the best chicken pad thai

slappey, alli and sally kate @ jonahs!

mom and dad came to visit to celebrate mom's birthday as well as take 1/2 of my home belongings back to store in ocala...not enough room for everything in our little apartment in bham :(

my wonderful parents

we enjoyed a delicious birthday dinner at jonah's in thomasville

ending with their tasty peanut butter pie for dessert

we had one last supper club while the micas were still florida residents - crock pot chicken tacos...david's favorites!

we had a wonderful dinner with the powells...where we had bellinis!
{and yes, this is the only summer dress I like to wear!}

I traveled to ocala right before our move and we celebrated sister's birthday. sally kate enjoyed her first hibachi and chopstick experience!

yummy lemon bettycake

ahh...the penske...I don't ever want to see that truck again. however, I was proud of david rigging up this system for an easy move-out. my dad was proud...

the micas on moving day!

we caravanned to birmingham in my car and the moving truck...

we were a one car family for two weeks until we drove david's car up this past weekend.

I am finally feeling settled in our new home! It's been an adjustment for all of us (including the dogs). We enjoy exploring Birmingham through all the new and creative restaurants they have to offer.

David is in his second week of Law school and so far so good - just a lot of reading!! I fortunately found a job right away and started working for a new home interiors/gift boutique opening next week. It's called Chickadee and it's going to be fabulous!! Thank you Elizabeth for getting me intouch with Kate (store owner) - she is so fun and has great taste. Many more updates to follow now that things have settled down a bit.

This past weekend David and I drove to Winter Park for Robbie and Anna's wedding. It was a beautiful, but warm, August affair. Pictures to come. Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. McCormick!

luna di miele part IV

We spent the last leg of our trip in the Cinque Terre - the Italian Riviera. We headed toward the coast in the Fiat and the hills only got worse. We learned from Steves that the best thing to do is leave your car in La Spezia (a larger city directly south of the Cinque Terre) and take the train as the roads down to the Cinque Terre towns are dangerous. Best advice we took the entire trip. A ten minute walk, a prayer that Fiat would be there when we returned, and less than 30 minutes later we arrived in the 4th out of 5 towns that make up the Cinque - Vernazza. All I have left to say is...birthplace of pesto :). yum.

I sported my 1990s ray-ban for our trip along the mediterranean

a view of vernazza - the only town of the cinque terre with a natural harbor

we stayed at a pension on the cliff about 200 stairs up from the town's center

we had a beautiful modern and clean room

outside our building

off to explore...

david wanted to document our climb to and from our room

this was a perfect end to our honeymoon - relaxation. the beach town was bustling with tourists stopping in for the day but the evening were the best as it was just us and the locals.

we ate at al castello the first night overlooking the water

we had heard their pesto lasagna was good and it did not disappoint

my husband had the frutti de mare

we stayed in the building directly below the tower of the castle (top left)

chin chin!

ristorante al castello is the very top portico you see

I spotted the motherload of hydrangeas!

each morning we walked up to il parata delle cinque terre and had some traditional italian breakfast - fresh berry ganite that was so refreshing...and a nutella pastry!

the best way to get from town to town in the cinque is by ferry or train...so we took the ferry to the southernmost town of riomaggiore

view of corniglia

for daddy...look at that train bridge!

manarola

riomaggiore

each town is also connected by trails up the mountain side and many hikers frequent this area. we strolled along the via dell'amore - pathway of love. it's a 20 minute easy walk high above the water from riomaggiore to manarola.

travelers and locals attach all kinds of lock along this path hoping their love will last forever - there are thousands of them

on our last night in vernazza we dined at the hotels restaurant along the harbor. again, I had pesto on trofie - their local homemade pasta.

another great house wine

a magnolia tree spotted!

I love him!! he planned the most wonderful honeymoon surprise ever - thank you!

that night all of the locals came out as they cleared the small beach area for a town soccer game

the next morning we took the train back to la spezia and were so happy that fiat was still there waiting on us. we headed 5 hours south along the coast back to rome for our final night before flying back to the states. we stopped, for a lack of better words, at a truck stop known as autogrill. I know what you're thinking...but think more gourmet. after all, it was a steves's recommendation!

nothing like tomatoes, buffalo mozz and bread

we actually stayed at a hotel near the airport in fiumicino but took the train from the airport to roma for one last roman holiday. we went back to dar poeta one last time for the best pizza in italy. then, we walked toward the pantheon and had one, maybe two, rounds of gelato at our favorite place san crispino.

you can hardly tell but this is us in front of the pantheon

The next morning we woke up very early to catch our flight back to Atlanta via Toronto. It was a long day plus of traveling. We were happy to be back in the states but longed for our "other life" back in Italy. I loved spending two weeks with my new husband and very little access to technology. It was just what we needed before starting the whirlwind in our lives that has been the last month. Finally, after one month the honeymoon blogs are DONE!! I have been just a little busy lately. I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into our luna di miele. Now I have so much to catch you up on.

ciao!